WARNING THIS MIGHT TAKE YOU FOREVER TO READ!!!!
I missed you guys last week, but I wanted to hold off before I told you about the amazing week I just had!! I spent the last week exploring three cities of the UK ALL BY MYSELF! This was the first time I have actually ever spent a week by myself let alone a week in a different country by myself. It was incredible. I had a really good time and I can't wait to tell you all about it ☺️. I left on Friday around 2:00 and landed in Edinburgh where I went and checked into my hostel. I chose to stay at CoDE for the five days I was in edinburgh and it was honestly really nice. The beds are in this pod style set up which gives each person their own space to stay in and it allowed me to not talk to people (or to talk to people) as much as I wanted. The first night in Edinburgh I walked around the city briefly and made my way over to my one and only stop for fish and chips for the week 🤭. I went to Berties which had incredibly reviews on google and the meal was fine, but I learned that I do not really like the taste of haddock so eating that as my meal was probably not my greatest choice (since I threw half of it away 🫠). Honestly it was a really chill night though I ended up back at my hostel around 6:00 pm and stayed there for the rest of the night since I was quite tired and wanted to be rested for my exploring on Saturday!
Saturday I went to the Edinburgh farmers market which was honestly very cute. I was able to get a really tasty sausage roll and chai latte 🤤. I explored nearby the farmers market and ended up at a tasty donut shop (that was much more expensive than my typical $1 flyboy donut 🫣). After the donut I went exploring by the castle, but never once actually toured the inside which I regret only a little (it was like $20 just to go look in a castle that is pretty cool, but honestly could find really cool pictures of it for free online without the crowds of tourists 😒). After the castle I wandered into greyfriars kirkyard. I honestly have no idea the significance of this place other than that it was a really old graveyard. By the time I had gotten there the clouds had set in and it was drizzling ever so slightly which really set the vibe of walking through the graveyard and it felt oddly serene. I eventually found myself walking near the university (just in case I want to go there for medical school 🤭) and further to some really cool book shops. While looking through one of the bookshops I found the book one day. It was in that moment I knew what I was going to do when I got back to the hostel for the day. I was going to start the new netflix series based on the book one day 😮.I had heard such good things about it, but I honestly didn't know much about what was going on. I ended up watching the entire 14 episode series in two days it was incredible and I highly highly highly recommend it. Later in the afternoon I had scheduled a tour of the edinburgh chocolatarium. They started us off with some hot chocolate made with oatmilk and I knew I was going to have a lovely time 🤤. If you know me I was absolutely in heaven this whole tour. We had several different tastings throughout the tour and even molded our own chocolate bars (which mine were so very yummy 😁). After the tour I needed a little rest since I had been walking all morning long so I went back to my hostel until I figured out what I wanted for dinner that night. You will never believe what I went to go get for dinner and let me tell you it was one of the highlights of the whole trip 😂. I walked about half of a mile and went to get wingstop 🤭. Hear me out about eating at this chain restuarant while I am exploring a completely new country... THEY HAD RANCH!!! Ever since I realized some restaurants in the UK had ranch I could not wait to hop on my flight. Ranch has been one of the minimal foods I have really missed and can't get in Copenhagen (of course unless I make it myself). After finishing my wings and chit chatting with my favorite non cousin cousin, Emily ❤️ I went to the next stop that I was quite excited for. I stopped at a little diner and got a CHERRY SHAKE 🥤! I haven't had one since Christmas time when Alex and I bought some cherry syrup. It definitely wasn't the same as an american cherry shake, but it was still so yummy. I made it back to my hostel for the night around 8:30 and quickly got ready for bed so I could get up early for a very thrilling sunday.
On Sunday I left for a trip to explore the highlands and loch ness! It was so gorgeous there and hoenstly it was a really pretty day weather wise. The morning started off very foggy, but by the time we made it to loch ness it was very sunny and about 50 degrees outside. As gorgeous as this day was it was honestly a decently uneventful day 😢. I spent about 9 hours on a bus that day and learned a lot about scottish history 🤭. I really think my papa would have loved this trip and hearing all the interesting history! I have many many pictures below from this day alone and I feel the pictures do a much better job explaining what I did more than I could in words 😅.
Monday and Tuesday I didn't have much planned other than to just explore and honestly I don't know if I could ever recall everywhere I went on these two days because it was all amazing, but becuase I walked everywhere soooo exhausting 💤. I can say I went to explore Stockbridge which I think is just a little part of edinburgh and new town that reminded me a lot of the vibe of downtown sioux falls ☺️. It was about a mile and a half walk to where I wanted to get some breakfast from my hostel which was honestly the perfect way to wake up on Monday 😌. I went to Cowan and Sons and got a banana bread bowl that came with some fresh fruit which I had been craving since leaving copenhagen 🤤. It was so yummy and I ordered a tea and they brought the whole teapot over which just made my morning so much better. I went walking around the stockbridge area and went in and out of different shops along the way. It was truly a very gorgeous area and before heading back to near my hostel I stopped and got one of the best grilled cheeses I have ever had in my life. It was from cheese and toasted and it was truly divine 😫. After all my gorging I started making my way back to my hostel when I realized I needed to make a stop at TK Maxx since I was in the area and I ended up buying myself another carry-on sized bag wince I knew especially after this trip not everything would be making it home with the two bags I had brought here 😂. After my long debate of what bag I should get I made it back to my hostel and rested until sunset time when I decided I wanted to hike up calton hill. If you ever have the chance to be in edinburgh at sunset and want an amazing view it only took about 10 minutes to get to the peak and it was not all too rigorous at least not for me 🤭 I highly recommend this view. It was absolutely stunning. After making my way back down I realized I should probably get something for dinner, but I wasn't that hungry so I stopped at the grocery store and got some yummy popcorn for my dinner for the night 😂. I hung out in the hostel until around 7:40 when I made my way right outside my hostel for a haunted tour of the vaults of the bridges in Edinburgh. It was honestly a very insightful tour of the history of edinburgh and the more disgusting secrets that aren't for the faint of heart 😫. I really enjoyed this tour, but I felt it would have been much more fun with a friend 😢.
Tuesday I made my way back to stockbridge for breakfast because I was really craving a cinnamon roll. The Pastry Section was the only bakery I could find that used cream cheese frosting rather than icing which I prefer much more ☺️. It was a lovely roll and I stopped back into cowan and sons after finishing it for a lemonade to enjoy on my way to Arthurs Seat. Arthurs Seat gave a fantastic view of the city and despite the wind of the day it was the perfect day to be outside 😁. The sun was shining so bright that I ended up needing to take off my jacket since I was getting so warm 🥵. This hike was honestly a perfect way to spend my last day in edinburgh and it was amazing to get a sense of the city as a whole. After my hike I chose to go take a rest for a little bit and determine what I wanted to do for the rest of the day. I decided on the national museum of scotland and I couldn't have made a better choice. This museum was completely free and honestly I was shocked. In the US I feel as though you could have easily charged $20 a ticket for this ginormous museum. It was very interactive and had loads and loads of information the only regret I had about going there was that I didn't go earlier. I felt I could have spent a whole day in that museum alone and every bit of it reminded me of my Papa and how he could have spent the whole five days I was in edinburgh reading every sign in the museum 😂. After the museum I made my way to a little market area called Edinburgh street food for my last dinner in edinburgh. It was honestly a very cool set up where there were probably ten individual restaurants all under one roof where you ordered whatever you wanted on an app and food runners would bring it over to you. The atmosphere in there was incredible and I could have eaten there for every meal if I didn't feel I should explore other restaurants 🤭. After dinner I made my way back to the hostel one last time and did any last minute packing before needing to head onto my bus to manchester in the morning.
I eventually left Edinburgh on Wednesday morning. As eventful as this day was looking at it now it is a pretty boring day to describe (which you might appreciate 😂). I hopped on my 5.5 hour bus ride to manchester around 8:20 am and we took off. The bus ride was pretty uneventful and don't tell my friends this, but I probably watched a few too many episodes of gossip girl and may be wayyy further than we were when we each left for our trips 🫣. We made it to manchester in the early afternoon so I decided to get all settled in to my airbnb since I was quite pooped from the week I already had. around 5:00 I realized it would be good to figure out when to get to the game and when to go buy something from the Manchester City store (oh yeah by the way I went to watch a soccer game and that's why I was in manchester for the night 😂). The shop was about a half hour away and I realized that the merch store closes at 6:00 pm so I walked as quickly as I could to the bus stop that would take me to etihad stadium. I waited for the bus and when I got on I realized I was going to opposite way That I wanted. Luckily the next stop wasn't too far down the road so I got out and hopped on the right one 🤭. As I was getting off the stop for the stadium I got an email from the Gustavus housing people asking me a question about what housing me and my roommates wanted for next year 🫣. This couldn't have been a worse time since I was just about ready to step into the store that was full of true man city fans getting all the gear they wanted for the upcomming game. I was facetiming samara about housing as I went to pick out an item which I almost then grabbed the wrong one 🫠. We got the housing thing figured out right as the gates opened for us to go inside, but at this point it was pointless to go find food outside of the stadium 😣. I ended up with a stadium hot dog which for some reason came with onions on top 🤮. The game was honestly very exciting and it was against FC Copenhagen which made it even better. Man city won 3-1 and it was such a cool experience to be able to watch it live. When the game ended I got on the bus (going the right way this time) and a couple of old men sat next to me. They were even so sweet as to give me one of the program book thingys that I didn't even think to pick up. I made it back to the airbnb around 11:45 which was a little late since I had to be up early for my bus ride to London!
Thursday and Friday I spent in London which was honestly so incredible. My bus left from manchester around 9:00 am so I needed to leave around 8:00 which I did perfectly and luckily I did because the busses to the coach station were all delayed 😧. I made it the.re at the perfect time and we ventured off to London! Once arriving in london I hopped on the tube and made my way to kings cross. There was some of the most highly rated luggage storage stops over there so I gave it a shot. It was honestly perfect and I had no issues with storing my bags there. From kings cross I made my way to Camden market for the best korean corndog I have ever eaten. I had seen some on my tik tok page, but had yet to try one and it did not disappoint. From there I made my way to queen marys royal garden which was absolutely spectacular. Despite it being early march there were some gorgeous flowers in full bloom and plenty of birds relaxing in the bond and flying above me it was quite tranquil 😌. After walking around the garden I made my way to a quaint book store called word on the water. It was a book shop on a boat in the canal it was not like anything I had gone into before and it was adorable ☺️. I finally bought a book here and I can't wait to truly get to reading it which I hope I can during spring break at the end of the month 😁. Once I had picked out my book I made my way to where everyone told me I needed to stop while in the UK... Nandos. It's this famous chicken restuarant that serves grilled chicken wings in peri-peri seasoning. It was quite good, but much more food than what I can eat. Despite being super full I needed a sweet treat so I stopped right near where my luggage was being kept at a dessert place called creams. I got a chocolate chip cookie that was baked for probably 5 minutes so it was so super gooey and some vanilla ice cream. It was so delicious and funnily enough reminded me of a dessert shop I went to in Malmo, Sweden. I made my way to my luggage and set off on my journey to my airbnb for the night. I made it in around 9:00 and got ready for my last day of my vacation 😢.
Friday I woke up around 7:30 and made my way back over to kings cross to drop off my luggage and I was so much more ready to take on today than I was yesterday. My first stop was to this incredible bagel shop called b bagel soho. I have not had such a good bagel since my last stop to bagel boy. It was absolutely to die for. The guy that was helping me out at the register was also so very kind and it was the perfect start to my last day ☺️. After grabbing my bagel I made my way over to see Buckingham palace. As I made my way over there I think I saw the last little bit of the changing of the guards which was actually incredible. After that I made my way over to see Big Ben which was pretty cool, but I thought it was going to be so much bigger so it was a little bit of a let down 😢. Once I was done there I made my way to Borough market to grab the famous chocolate covered strawberries which truly lived up to their reputation. I enjoyed these strawberries as I walked across the london bridge then took the Tube to abbey road where I called my papa. We got to pretend we were the beatles together which was so much fun! Once I was all done there I made my way over to a scone shop for some afternoon tea. This was my last fun stop of the vacation unfortunately 😢. The scone with some jam and tea reminded me of all the tea parties that my grandma would put together with my sisters and I. I think she would have adored my stay in England and I wish she was exploring with me luckily she got to hear about it at the end of each night 😂. I made my way back to kings cross and grabbed my luggage and hopped on the tube to take me to the airport. Unfortunately I didn't realize that the train I got on did not stop at the airport and I got off at the next stop. Once I talked to the guy behind the counter he informed me that the next train to the airport wasn't for another half an hour 😭.Luckily I left extra early and made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare 😅. I grabbed some final chocolate from the airport and was on my way back to Copenhagen!!! I was so excited to be back and Francesca even left some pizza for me in the fridge that she had made for herself earlier in the night 🥲. On the plane I finally calculated how much I had walked in the last week and was able to justify my sore and blistery feet when I found out it was 74.3 miles for the week 😵💫. I can now finally say I am so happy to be home and was so lucky I was able to experience this whole trip and do whatever I wanted. I cannot lie though, I did get quite lonely some of the days and don't think I will be traveling by myself for that long again just for fun.
Now rest your eyes from reading and enjoy my favorite pictures from this week 🥰
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